- The 2009 Summer Institute
will be held June 21-27, 2009, at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison, WI. Additional information will be made available
in early 2009.
- Summer Institute teams have come from institutions coast to coast: from Florida to Alaska,
from Hawaii to New England. See a new participant map to learn which
institutions have sent teams to the Summer Institute.
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The following are quotes from participants in the 2004 Summer
Institute:
"I view the SI as addressing the most difficult challenge in
undergraduate education today. The SI invests in faculty. The SI team has
guided us to think deeply about the way we teach, provided us with tools
to improve our methods and the inspiration to be part of a revolution in
undergraduate education. I think the SI model is brilliantly designed and
carried out."
"The SI meeting changed my teaching completely. I have had the best
semester of teaching since I began 9 years ago and I will never return to
the old lecture style."
"It was such a pleasure to work together with such creative and
talented people! Whenever I get discouraged, my memories of the energy and
committment of the SI participants to students inspires me to continue
working toward excellence and innovation in my classes."
"This completely opened my eyes to a new way of teaching that I had
never experienced before. Until this time, I had always done as my own
professors had done--namely, talk nonstop for 80 minutes at a time."
"I am now inspired with the belief that during my lifetime I will
witness the systemic changes in undergraduate science education that are
much needed and long overdue."
"Active learning techniques take time and energy, but increased
retention by the students will make it worthwhile."
"I was a good active learning teacher before I attended the summer
institute, but I am a better and more reflective active learning teacher
now."
"I was reminded how much more fun learning is if you do it on your
own with a little guidance and that spoon feeding information to students
is probably not the best way to help them really learn something."
"Think of the SI as time set aside to envision your role in
improving your student's learning experiences. It is time set aside to
learn new approaches to guiding student learning and to plan ways to
implement these new methods. The SI experience is intense and
transformative."
"No noise = no fun and less learning. Lots of noise = fun = lots of
learning. The neuronal noise generated from active learning strategies is
drowned out only by the verbal noise generated from the implemented
exercises."
"From a student evaluation of my new teaching style using active
learning: 'I find this novel approach to teaching very refreshing and
stimulating. I usually yawn through many classes that I have taken. Thank
you!'"
"The SI rocks! Active learning exercises can make class more fun
and meaningful for instructors, too."
"Quote from a student who took the course: 'First of all, I can
honestly say this course has really made me excited about biology. I took
Intro to Molec Biol last year with Prof. [XXXX]...and while I learned a
ton in that course, the lectures were still just big lectures and I often
would fall asleep. So one of the best parts of the course is the
group/studio environment. I was always awake at least and I found the
class activities and surveys fun. Also the videos you have for the class
are AWESOME. I love watching these things, my roommates even watch them,
and they aren't even bio majors. Also, i like the way everything is
online. For someone that is not very organized...it consolidates
everything and helps me keep track of exactly what I have to do.'"
"Now I know that active learning is the very fabric of teaching, to
be cut and shaped to fit the learners, and to be altered, not discarded,
as needed."
"I wish I could attend the SI every year."
"Die young, as late as possible. A. Montague"
"In a relaxed environment, that was at the same time quite intense,
the SI helped me learn how to get students to learn what we want them to
learn. This experience is one I would highly recomend."
"The SI definitely taught this old dog new tricks - Intellectually
one knows that there is always room to improve your teaching but even good
teachers get complacent for the experienced teacher the SI shakes you out
of you complacently makes you engage with your teaching and have fun with
it again."
"Thanks to the SI, I'm on my way to becoming the teacher that I've
always hoped I would be."
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